Conventional point-of-sale computer systems, such as those used in retail stores to record transactions, are being used more and more in customer relationship management systems. The flexibility of the traditional retail applications along with the improving functionality of retail point-of-sale printers has been utilized more and more for purposes of marketing goods and developing customer incentives.
Improves to point-of-sale marketing have typically involved the issuance of promotions, often in the form of coupons, to customers in the checkout lanes. In order to increase the effectiveness of such advertising, systems identify a particular customer through a shopper's club card or other individually distinguishable indicia that is presented to the teller at the time of check out. Once a customer is identified, the system can scan a database of previous purchases made by that customer to identify purchasing habits. Based on these habits, the customer can be issued a coupon, often with the intent of getting the customer to stray from favorite brand names.
Systems such as that described may involve the use of a secondary system with a secondary printer. This secondary system operates independently of the retail system but is capable of accessing data concerning customer transactions. These systems are the subject of much criticism from retailers, however, that are concerned with the secondary hardware and applications that must reside in their stores. Many retailers also object to granting access to data regarding past purchases of their customers. Along these lines, consumers have expressed concern regarding the privacy of their transactions as many consumers feel that prior purchases are personal business and should not be used by a marketing company to derive profit.
An improved system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,028,894 to Turner et al. which includes a system and method for targeting marketing messages at a point-of-sale consumer by collecting current transactional receipt data, such as the time of a retail transaction, the date of the transaction, the number of items purchased the transaction, and the total dollar value of a transaction. The data collected from the receipt is then applied to one or more algorithms to determine which marketing messages are most likely to be successful. A predetermined number of marketing messages found most likely to be successful are then printed on the customer receipt in order of priority of expected effectiveness. The system is designed to be used in connection with a point-of-sale terminal without the need for additional hardware, such as a second printer, or the need to access historical customer data.
To date, marketing systems that are designed to provide incentives in the form of coupons, redeemable discounts, etc. all rely on printed materials (e.g., coupons, discount certificates, etc.) which are either printed at the point-of-sale, for example on the back of a cash register receipt, or printed and mailed to customers who participate in customer programs that require the customers to furnish their mailing addresses. Alternatively, some merchants e-mail incentive offerings to registered customers in the form of coupons, redeemable discount certificates that the registered customer prints out on his or her home computer/printer.
The present invention is directed to a promotional/marketing method that images incentives, e.g. coupons, discount certificates, etc. on a credit card, gift card, merchant card, shopper club card, or the like.